Medicine Park is stocked

[hankinsfly]

Maybe both? I'll talk to ya about it

[mirvc17]

Got a good trout fix today at MP. I started off in the swim pool making long roll casts towards the middle. Action was slow for pretty much everyone.

After an hour, I stood near the falls and saw what appeared to be some rainbows down below. They were chasing schools of 100s of small baitfish. I tied on a Wolly Bugger and got one of them. If there were fish in this little nasty pool, I wondered if there would be more further downstream. I scrambled down the fall towards the "big rock." An old guy was standing on the rock casting into the foam line. I was well upstream of him and there was plenty of water between us. I tied on some soft hackle midges, pupa and the like, and begin a hooking frenzy that lasted for the next 3 hours. The fish were average size, but in good condition and some with some nice little shoulders.

Fights were good with strong pulls and jumps. I had doubles twice, but both times the fish all popped off. Swinging, and any kind of stripping through the foam worked--no indicators needed. Fish hit so hard I broke off 3 flies. Upped to 4X and solved that problem. My last fish was the nicest--a thick 16"er that took a size 18 Yong Special (tied Bling style). A size 20 Jujubee did well, Medallion Midges, and some soft hackles too. I could have stayed here all day, but I had to get home.

With the sound and peripheral of flowing water at my feet, I almost felt like I was at a legit trout stream.

[darrelln09]

I’ve also had some recent trouble with knot and line breakage. Had a clinch knot pull out once or twice when I was too forgetful to tie a non-slip mono loop knot to the hook eye. Had my leader break twice at or above my tippet ring (or surgeons knot) losing all my flies and strike indicator as a result. The worst part is that it all goes streaming off hooked to a fish’s jaw. “He’ll never take down three barrels! Damn.” I’m definitely upping my leader and tippet size to 4x, for nymphing anyway.

Doubles twice? That’s cool. Never had that happen to me.

[mirvc17]

Yeah finally I’ve learned that I should use the heaviest Tippet I can get away with when swinging/stripping softhackles / midges. Too many hard hits with break offs.

[troutbum54]

I always roll with 5x and use a 6 turn San Diego jam knot! The knot does really well with not slipping because it doubles over itself! Also I use my 2 or 3wt to help with the impact

[mirvc17]

I’ll try the SDJ knot. I briefly tried tugging on it and compared to a standard clinch—definitely stronger! Uses a bit more tippet to tie though.

[jonbo]

Stephen,... never say never. I'm from California and can safely say that the idea of coming to Arkansas never entered my mind one time,... till it did.

[troutbum54]

Ya it sucks that it uses a bit of tippet but I usually use a clinch until I find the hot pattern and then I switch over to the SDJ

[darrelln09]

Nov 1, 2017 13:14:21 GMT -6 mirvc17 said:

... one I've started to call Chironobombing

"midge bombing" ... I get it now. 

[soonerlongbow]

Any recent luck at MP? I might try to sneak over there on days off but that won’t be till the 11th. An interesting side note is that when I was in the army at Ft. Sill as an MP I used to walk along the creek on the post side of the fence trying to see some fish. Never did try to fish there during winter though.

[mirvc17]

Was last there a couple of weeks ago. It was cold, windy, and I had the place to myself (all other anglers didn’t last more than a half hour). Got 5 but it was painful. I’ve assumed that most of it is probably frozen over, but you can call the bait shop there and ask. The few sections that have “good flow” might be fishable but I don’t know for sure. Hoping to get over soon as it seems to be he end of the below freezing temps.

[soonerlongbow]

I know how that is! The last time I went over there a year or so back it was almost completely frozen. My wife won’t go back! A couple days ago it was warmer in Alaska than in Duncan Oklahoma.

[mirvc17]

Hit MP this afternoon from ~2-3:45. Brought my youngest son but there were basically no fish for either of us.

A few spin fishers around but that’s it. Some of swim hole still had a thin layer of ice on it but enough open water before the spill over.

Son and I moved downstream to the bubble line. No fish at all. Moved further down after seeing some rise forms. Cast to them but nothing and there were people that came and fed the ducks. Suspect they spooked the fish.

Back up to swim hole, as I was rigging and egg+midge, split-shot and a bobber, I saw a nice trout cruising but before I could get some flies in front of his face he was gone. Wind picked up and son started getting cold.

I wonder if they canceled a stocking due to the freezing weather and ice. Midges were active on the water.

[mirvc17]

Hankinsfly and I battled the wind and a bit of cold today at MP. There weren't too many people out, but more than I expected. We searched for fish and there just aren't a lot around. We stripped wets and wolly's, and nymphed midges and eggs under indicators. I LDR'd 3 and hankins landed a couple of decent fish back to back. A couple of bait guys had two baskets full of fish, but it took them 6+ hrs to get them. Couldn't count, but I'd say for sure hit their limit each and with some decent sized fish. 12 less fish in an already almost fishless Swim pool.

It seemed the less we paid attention, the better we did. Sit down, have a cigar, not pay attention = fish on.

Hope they stock soon, it's slim pickins.

[hoss]

Nov 10, 2017 18:50:23 GMT -6 mirvc17 said:

2... plus that one sunfish. Slow all day, for all anglers. Either the fish never really got active, have spread out more, or the majority of them have been caught and kept.

I enjoyed launching the Commando head some, too bad no fish hit the streamers.

So I've seen videos on these Micro commando heads, seems like a great way get considerably more distance off say a 3 weight.  If I understand correctly you can match this setup with a traditional / regular fly rod.  I'm thinking of investing further into this system.  Any recommendations on line selection?  

[mirvc17]

Hoss,

They have a recommended grain weight chart on the website. So for a 3 weight single hand rod, the recommended grain weight is 150 grains. You will also need a tip and some mono running line (Lazr line) as well. For the tip, They have floating ones and sinking depending on your needs. I got a floating tip and also bought some Airlfo brand poly leaders (one floating and one intermediate).

You can launch flies effortlessly but handling a mono running line kinda sucks. You can’t really mend it well. They say you can nymph, dry fly, bobber etc with it but honestly the presentation isn’t great. I think it’s best for swinging and stripping streamers and “trout spey”.

It’s sort of fun if you’ve got the right water type for it. But it won’t be replacing a traditional trout line for me. I just see it as another tool I use. I think it’s best for swinging/stripping on big water.

[hoss]

Jan 16, 2018 13:45:43 GMT -6 mirvc17 said:

Hoss,

They have a recommended grain weight chart on the website. So for a 3 weight single hand rod, the recommended grain weight is 150 grains. You will also need a tip and some mono running line (Lazr line) as well. For the tip, They have floating ones and sinking depending on your needs. I got a floating tip and also bought some Airlfo brand poly leaders (one floating and one intermediate).

You can launch flies effortlessly but handling a mono running line kinda sucks. You can’t really mend it well. They say you can nymph, dry fly, bobber etc with it but honestly the presentation isn’t great. I think it’s best for swinging and stripping streamers and “trout spey”.

It’s sort of fun if you’ve got the right water type for it. But it won’t be replacing a traditional trout line for me. I just see it as another tool I use. I think it’s best for swinging/stripping on big water.

I may give this a try in the near future. So one of my favorite spring time ventures is flyfishing for Sandbass when they are in the rivers. I think something like this, being able to swing a small clouser minnow on a three-weight would be a blast! Thanks for the info.

[mirvc17]

Did OK at MP today. It was slow for the first couple of hours. No one was catching anything and I lost two pairs of flies to the trees from a couple of missed hook sets.

I moved spots and started having some action. Got one 12” stocker, then a couple of sand bass. Finally, I hooked into a big -ish fish. At first I thought it might have been a small carp. It made a wild run and peeled 30 feet of fly line off. Finally got a glimpse and got it to the net. Next fish was also a good fighter but not as big. 

Both took a size 18 Mercury Pheasant Tail.

A spin fisherman said they are supposed to stock tomorrow. Not sure how he knows but that’s what he said. 

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[mirvc17]

So I'm finally tired of losing flies to the trees at Medicine Park. I bought one of those Catch A Lure's from Feather-Craft Fly Fishing. It attaches to the rod easily and I think it will be a nifty little gadget, as long as the flies are within the reach of the rod. I also got a Rod and Reel protector which looks neat for when you break your rod in half but don't want to completely de-rig it. I think I may even use it to rig mostly up at home and get to fishing faster.